Children and tax returns. Thankfully the two aren't related yet.
We finally have a date for Juan, the new foster boy. He should be arriving tomorrow sometime afternoon, which means I won't be heading in to the internship until Thursday. I'm honestly not sure what to expect, but we're already working hard on trying to get him into school. My mom had me call the high school to see if I could register him in her place, which was a no go. In addition he seems to need a lot of paperwork, but I'm hoping that the foster agency will have it taken care of. He's already been in the country for a few weeks now, surely they were doing something productive while he was in Texas. I hope so anyway. As of tomorrow the house will have a very different feel to it and hopefully it'll be a positive or at least workable difference.
Today I also discovered that my tax return was deposited in my bank account as of yesterday. I wasn't expecting it until this Friday and got a nice little surprise when I went to check my account balance after paying a few bills. Like any young person I've burned through much of it already. The biggest expense was the high interest rate portion of Jo-Jo's medical bill. $743 dollars at an interest rate of 22 percent which was charged at a separate interest rate than the other portion of the medical bill. That $700+ was originally charged to my credit card, and I had the hospital remove it and add it to my CareCredit loan. The 0 percent promotion rate ended last month and instead of being 11 percent like the rest of the bill, was almost double. That rate was added to my bill for an overall total of 36 percent. I was told over the phone if I could pay the $700+ off my interest would return to 11 percent. As of today I started the process with an online payment and tomorrow I have to call GE Money (owner of CareCredit) and make sure all of that money is put to the high interest rate charge. Once that's done it'll be one less financial weight on my chest.
-I most definitely took the warranty plan on this one, in addition to the year Microsoft offers. I was a bit surprised when the sales associate told me that his refurbished 360 red ringed on him and he had to replace it out of pocket. Ouch.
To be honest I had originally planned on getting a Wii (the new Target that opened had quite a few of them in stock) but I remembered a blowout sale at FYE from last week. Xbox 360 Elites and PlayStation 3s were priced at $299 and $349 respectively. The catch was that the discount was in the form of a mail in rebate, but FYE rebates are pretty reliable. So after getting some advice from my mom I decided to pay for the first $300 with cash and the rest through credit card. By the time I get my rebate back either some of it will go toward paying off the credit card bill, or the bill will be paid off and I'll simply cash the rebate check. It isn't the newest 360 Elite bundle, but considering my PS2 backlog I'm not in a huge hurry to have lots of games. Actually, given the price of the games I may end up borrowing games from friends, or buying a few used ones. (I might take you up on your offer to borrow games, geofflb.) For now I was content to buy a Microsoft points card, the newest intercooler fan (which I've seen in action and has great reviews) and I'll think about setting the 360 up over the weekend if I can find a spare 30 or 40 foot ethernet cable.
I had planned to finish up a few anime series on DVD and buy a few rare PS2 games. I still may do so, but at a slower pace, after each weekly job paycheck or at the end of the month when bills aren't a huge concern. I don't want the last bit of my income tax to go away yet. Thankfully I was able to get some cash back into my savings account after borrowing from it in November.
At least it'll be an interesting weekend. I had also planned to check out Best Buy's anime DVD sale, but I'm not sure if I want to drive around looking for the Best Buy in Plymouth Meeting. It's a half hour away, but I'm not sure it'll be worth the trip this late in the sale. That and I don't feel like driving into unfamiliar territory after driving near downtown (not far from the Fishtown/Northern Liberties section of the city) to donate my old 17 inch CRT monitor, speakers and subwoofer to NTR.
Today I also discovered that my tax return was deposited in my bank account as of yesterday. I wasn't expecting it until this Friday and got a nice little surprise when I went to check my account balance after paying a few bills. Like any young person I've burned through much of it already. The biggest expense was the high interest rate portion of Jo-Jo's medical bill. $743 dollars at an interest rate of 22 percent which was charged at a separate interest rate than the other portion of the medical bill. That $700+ was originally charged to my credit card, and I had the hospital remove it and add it to my CareCredit loan. The 0 percent promotion rate ended last month and instead of being 11 percent like the rest of the bill, was almost double. That rate was added to my bill for an overall total of 36 percent. I was told over the phone if I could pay the $700+ off my interest would return to 11 percent. As of today I started the process with an online payment and tomorrow I have to call GE Money (owner of CareCredit) and make sure all of that money is put to the high interest rate charge. Once that's done it'll be one less financial weight on my chest.
-I most definitely took the warranty plan on this one, in addition to the year Microsoft offers. I was a bit surprised when the sales associate told me that his refurbished 360 red ringed on him and he had to replace it out of pocket. Ouch.
To be honest I had originally planned on getting a Wii (the new Target that opened had quite a few of them in stock) but I remembered a blowout sale at FYE from last week. Xbox 360 Elites and PlayStation 3s were priced at $299 and $349 respectively. The catch was that the discount was in the form of a mail in rebate, but FYE rebates are pretty reliable. So after getting some advice from my mom I decided to pay for the first $300 with cash and the rest through credit card. By the time I get my rebate back either some of it will go toward paying off the credit card bill, or the bill will be paid off and I'll simply cash the rebate check. It isn't the newest 360 Elite bundle, but considering my PS2 backlog I'm not in a huge hurry to have lots of games. Actually, given the price of the games I may end up borrowing games from friends, or buying a few used ones. (I might take you up on your offer to borrow games, geofflb.) For now I was content to buy a Microsoft points card, the newest intercooler fan (which I've seen in action and has great reviews) and I'll think about setting the 360 up over the weekend if I can find a spare 30 or 40 foot ethernet cable.
I had planned to finish up a few anime series on DVD and buy a few rare PS2 games. I still may do so, but at a slower pace, after each weekly job paycheck or at the end of the month when bills aren't a huge concern. I don't want the last bit of my income tax to go away yet. Thankfully I was able to get some cash back into my savings account after borrowing from it in November.
At least it'll be an interesting weekend. I had also planned to check out Best Buy's anime DVD sale, but I'm not sure if I want to drive around looking for the Best Buy in Plymouth Meeting. It's a half hour away, but I'm not sure it'll be worth the trip this late in the sale. That and I don't feel like driving into unfamiliar territory after driving near downtown (not far from the Fishtown/Northern Liberties section of the city) to donate my old 17 inch CRT monitor, speakers and subwoofer to NTR.